It is one of the fundamental tenets of business that you cannot  manage what you do not monitor.  This is especially true when it comes to tracking the energy use within facilities, and the related environmental impacts of that energy use.

Those responsible for the efficient use of buildings and facilities need to have timely and focused feedback on the utility cost impact of their operating decisions – delivered in a focused manner that will quickly point them towards energy waste and operating problems.  

It is not enough to know the numbers – we need to be able to use energy data in a way that can be helpful in diagnosing potential operating anomalies or system problems that lay beneath the surface of comfort. 

Effective facility operations is driven first and foremost by the operator’s experience with their building; data serves to support or enhance that experience. With the advent of increasingly sophisticated technologies, we can be attracted to collect more and more data – witness the growth of real-time monitoring systems, usually the purview of industrial operations, now making its way into building operations.  The age of “Big Data” and the Internet of Things (IoT) can draw us into believing that more is better. We  can easily be drawn into a paradigm that just because we can measure ‘something’, that ‘something’ is worthy of being measured. Not true. Let’s face reality – building operations and building management is not rocket science. Building control systems are at the low end of control systems complexity and criticality.   And the greatest portion of our building stock uses 50 year old technology. So, while having access to data can be assistive in troubleshooting system anomalies, and we both understand and appreciate the ability to access a broader range of data, we are always cognizant that data must be turned into information, and more specifically, into information that is useful and actionable to facility operations and management staff. Regardless of the increasing use of enabling technologies, it is the principles of human interaction that govern the effectiveness of the facility in meeting the needs of its occupants – and an empowered operator is key to the success of that process.

This means we provide the right information, at the right time, to enable the operator to operate their building in the most effective manner to meet occupant needs.

To see the full range of services we offer, see NRGtrax.com